Research Guides: Film: Film Reviews & Newspapers

Finding Film Reviews

Newspapers can be an amazing sources of information and the library has access to both historical collections as well as current subscriptions to some of the local, provincial and national newspapers. They are also a great place to find film reviews for current and historical cinema.

Reviews for recent films may be found in general databases such as OMNI

For older fllms:

search an historic newspaper database
consult a print film review index
use a database that includes archival content
*Variety film reviews are included in Film & Television Literature Index database

Tip: the film's title is not always included in the indexing of a film review AND film reviews are not always classed as reviews in the format type.

If you cannot find a review for your film, try expanding your search by looking in the time range of the film's release, but searching with the director's name.

New York Times @ ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
- Complete New York Times newspaper and New York Times Book Review
- Find news, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, historical photos and advertisements
- 1851-present (4 year delay on current content)
- Permitted Uses
Canadian Newsstream This link opens in a new window
- Full text of over 400 Canadian news sources.
- Most titles are updated daily, and some date as far back as the late 1970s.
- Permitted Uses
Toronto Star @ ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
- Full text of the Toronto Star from 1894-present.
- 2+ year delay on current content
- Access available current issues of the Toronto Star
- Permitted Uses
Readers Guide Retrospective (1890-1982) This link opens in a new window
- An index of subjects in the popular press, particularly U.S. cultural history.
- Coverage: 1890-1982.
- Permitted Uses
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
- Search across nine primary source databases simultaneously: British Library Newspapers, The Economist Historical Archive, Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), The Times Digital Archive, The Illustrated London News Historical Archive (1842-2003), the Burney Newspapers Collection, Archives of Sexuality & Gender, Indigenous Peoples of North America, and the Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive.
- Coverage: 1603-2015
- Permitted Uses